What are you Hungry for?

Generations Church issues a clear call to make space for God by intentionally clearing out the distractions that fill daily life. Drawing on Matthew 6, the text insists that fasting belongs among normal kingdom practices alongside secretive giving and sincere prayer. Fasting functions as a spiritual emptiness—an act of setting aside food, comfort, or habitual habits so that God can refill priorities, reshape desires, and reposition treasure toward heaven. The contrast with performative religion appears repeatedly: public displays for applause turn holy disciplines into vanity and rob souls of lasting reward.

Practical illustrations show how everyday appetites—chips before a meal, scrolling through a phone, constant entertainment—crowd out hunger for righteousness. Fasting reorders the heart by signaling that God outranks sustenance, comfort, and social approval. This discipline opens space for repentance, creates room for breakthrough against entrenched strongholds, and cultivates an outpouring of God’s presence that can heal families, communities, and nations. Biblical examples and Jesus’s teaching point to fasting not as a means to manipulate God but as a way to align the human will with the kingdom’s purposes.

Concrete guidance accompanies the theological core: different kinds of fasts fit different bodies and situations; medical concerns allow modified approaches; replacement of meal-time with Scripture and prayer prevents mere dieting; non-food fasts—social media, music, or other habits—create meaningful space. Regular rhythms of humility and focused prayer reshape desires so that hunger for God becomes sustainable rather than performative. The content issues a corporate challenge: imagine a church and a city that deliberately make room for God and seek his kingdom first, asking for his will to be done on earth as in heaven.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Fast to make room for God Fasting intentionally empties daily schedules and appetites so God can refill affections and priorities. When food, comfort, or distraction yields to deliberate hunger for God, attention shifts from temporary satisfaction to eternal treasure. This practice trains the heart to prefer God’s presence over immediate relief and forms a posture of dependence that prepares for deeper spiritual work. [51:58]
• 2. Avoid performative religiosity Public performance steals the soul’s reward by turning holy acts into applause-seeking theater. True spiritual disciplines aim at an audience of One; when motives orbit human admiration, spiritual practices harden into vanity that cannot sustain transformation. Repentance begins where honesty replaces image, allowing genuine spiritual growth. [55:37]
• 3. Treasure reveals the heart What a person stores up exposes where the heart resides; earthly applause and goods cannot hold eternal worth. Reordering treasure toward God reorients choices, time, and energy so that pursuit of the kingdom changes daily behavior and priorities. Hunger for righteousness creates capacity for God to fill. [59:42]
• 4. Fasting creates breakthrough and healing Certain breakthroughs require a created longing that only fasting and focused prayer produce. Repentance through fasting opens doors for deliverance, corporate restoration, and spiritual outpouring that normal routines may not access. Persistent humility before God invites him to answer and to heal land, home, and heart. [67:52]
• 5. Replace habits with devotion Removing a habit only matters if the vacant space fills with Scripture and prayer; otherwise fasting becomes mere diet or avoidance. Deliberately replacing scrolling, media, or convenience with moments of Bible reading, silence, and petition cultivates sustained hunger for God. This form of discipline renews the mind and fosters transformation into kingdom likeness. [73:59]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [34:03] - Missions and Faith Promise
• [39:47] - Missionary Testimonies
• [40:16] - Budget and Giving Update
• [43:45] - Easter Events and Announcements
• [46:34] - Opening Prayer and Aim
• [47:10] - Illustration: Chips Before Dinner
• [50:34] - Distractions and Spiritual Fullness
• [51:36] - Matthew 6: Fasting Introduced
• [55:37] - Hypocrisy Versus Hidden Devotion
• [58:50] - Treasures and the Heart
• [61:02] - What Fasting Really Does
• [67:09] - Fasting for Repentance & Breakthrough
• [71:44] - Practical Fasting Tips
• [76:34] - Call to Make Space for God
• [84:14] - Altar Time and Prayer
• [87:10] - Closing Prayer and Blessing

1. What three spiritual practices does Jesus address in Matthew 6, and what common warning does He give about each one?
2. According to Jesus, what is the difference between how hypocrites fast and how His followers should fast?
3. What does Jesus say will happen if our spiritual practices are done for the applause of others?
4. What everyday examples were given of filling our lives with temporary things that leave no room for God? [49:07]

1. Why does Jesus emphasize that fasting should be done “in secret” rather than for public recognition? What does this reveal about God’s values compared to human values?
2. Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” How does fasting help reorient what we treasure? [59:42]
3. The sermon mentioned that “certain breakthroughs require a created longing that only fasting and focused prayer produce.” Why might God design some spiritual victories to depend on practices like fasting? [01:07:52]
4. How does replacing a fasted habit with Scripture and prayer prevent fasting from becoming just a diet or empty ritual? [01:13:59]

1. What is one appetite or habit in your life—like snacking, scrolling, or comfort-seeking—that often crowds out hunger for God? What would it look like to intentionally create space this week by limiting that thing? [50:06]
2. How can you ensure that your times of fasting or self-denial remain focused on God rather than drifting into performance or pride? What practical step can you take to keep your motive centered on Him?
3. Is there a situation in your life, family, or community where you sense God calling you to seek breakthrough through focused prayer and fasting? What would it look like to respond to that nudge? [01:09:33]
4. What’s one non-food item—like social media, music, or entertainment—that you could fast from to make room for prayer and Scripture? How will you fill that newfound space with seeking God? [01:14:29]
5. How can we, as a group, support one another in cultivating a sustainable hunger for God rather than falling into performative spirituality?
6. What would it look like for our church to truly live out “Your kingdom come, Your will be done” in our city? How can we individually and together make more space for God to move? [01:16:34]
7. When you feel a physical hunger or craving during a fast, what simple prayer can you use to turn that moment into connection with God? [01:12:07]